Nigeria Returns to Adidas With $8.5m Kit Deal as NFF President Ibrahim Gusau Resigns
Nigeria are returning to Adidas with what the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says is the biggest kit sponsorship deal in African football.
The federation has agreed to an $8.5 million annual deal with Adidas, according to outgoing NFF president Ibrahim Gusau, ending Nigeria’s 11-year relationship with Nike.
🇳🇬🤝🏽 The NFF have agreed a new deal with Adidas worth $8.5m annually.
— Soar Africa! (@SSE_NGA) August 27, 2026
The partnership will provide $4.5m in cash and $4m worth of equipment and kits for Nigeria’s national teams, following the end of the current Nike contract. pic.twitter.com/fZTCwWz1zL
Gusau announced the deal during the press conference where he confirmed his resignation as NFF president on Thursday in Abuja. The timing means one of the biggest commercial developments in Nigerian football arrived on the same day the federation was thrown into another leadership crisis.
The new agreement is made up of $4.5 million in cash and $4 million worth of kits and equipment for Nigeria’s national teams.
Understanding the Nigeria Adidas Kit Deal
The agreement will cover Nigeria’s national teams after the current Nike arrangement expires at the end of 2026.
Gusau described the Adidas agreement as a major improvement on the kit deal Nigeria has had with Nike for the past 11 years. He argued that the value of the previous contract had failed to keep pace with the rising cost of running Nigeria’s national teams.
According to Gusau, the Nike agreement provided $500,000 in cash and $1 million worth of kits each year. Those terms remained unchanged for the duration of the partnership, even as the number of national teams and the cost of international football increased.
Gusau said this had left the NFF having to buy additional jerseys and equipment on the open market because the annual allocation was no longer enough.
The new Nigeria Adidas kit deal changes that. The federation will receive nine times the previous cash component, while the value of the equipment supplied each year will also rise sharply.
The deal could also give the NFF another commercial opportunity through Adidas’ retail presence and merchandise sales in Nigeria.
Why Nigeria Is Returning to Adidas
The switch marks a return to a relationship Nigeria has had before.
Adidas previously supplied Nigeria’s national teams before Nike took over in 2015. Nike’s partnership produced one of the most recognisable Nigeria shirts in modern football when the Super Eagles’ 2018 World Cup kit became a global fashion hit.
The return to adidas therefore comes with more than a financial story. Nigeria’s national team shirt has become part of the country’s football identity, and kit manufacturers now compete for access to a large and commercially attractive fan base.
The new agreement gives Adidas another chance to build that relationship with Nigerian supporters.
For the NFF, however, the financial improvement arrives at a difficult moment.
Gusau Leaves as Nigerian Football Faces a Crisis
Gusau resigned on Thursday after almost four years as NFF president. The federation confirmed that its general secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, and members of the executive committee also resigned.
His departure follows a difficult period for Nigeria’s national teams.
The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the Super Falcons missed out on the 2027 Women’s World Cup for the first time in the history of the competition. Nigeria’s women lost 2-1 to South Africa in the intercontinental play-off.
The federation has also faced scrutiny over its administration and finances. Al Jazeera reported that the resignations came amid widespread criticism following the national teams’ failures. In contrast, other reports have linked the wider crisis to an investigation into the use of government funds released to settle outstanding payments.
According to reports, the Nigeria Football Federation is under investigation by Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services, over the alleged misuse of 17 billion naira (about $12.7m) it received from the government in 2024 to clear a backlog of payments owed to national team players and officials.
President Bola Tinubu has since also called for comprehensive reforms of Nigerian football, including changes to governance, administration, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability.
The Deal Gives the Next NFF Board More to Work With
The Adidas agreement does not solve Nigeria’s football problems.
A better kit contract cannot qualify the Super Eagles for a World Cup. It cannot fix the development system that produces the next generation of players. And it cannot resolve the governance problems that have followed the NFF for years.
But it does give the federation a stronger commercial base.
The $4.5 million cash component alone gives the NFF more guaranteed annual income than the cash component Gusau says it received from Nike. The additional $4 million in equipment also reduces the amount the federation needs to spend supplying Nigeria’s national teams.
That could become important for the next administration if the money is managed properly.
Nigeria has some of Africa’s biggest football audiences, a huge diaspora and a national-team brand that remains commercially powerful despite recent failures. The challenge for the NFF will be turning that value into sustainable income while rebuilding confidence in how the federation is run.
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